Facing El Nino, the Government Ensures Food Reserve Readiness

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - President Prabowo Subianto summoned the Minister of Agriculture, Andi Amran Sulaiman, at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, Thursday, 18 June 12026. In the meeting, the Government ensured the availability of national food stocks and the readiness of agricultural infrastructure to face the potential impacts of the El Nino Godzilla climate phenomenon.

After the meeting, Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman stated that the national rice reserve until June 2026 is around 5.2 million tons. According to him, the availability of this stock, along with the rice reserves in the household, hotel, and restaurant sectors, is sufficient to meet the national food needs for the next 10 months.

"With this reserve, all three of them can last for 10-11 months. If we assume the lowest is 10 months ahead, that would take supplies through April," Amran said.

In addition to ensuring food availability, Amran stated that the government is also preparing a number of mitigation measures to address the potential impacts of El Niño. Various agricultural support infrastructures have been strengthened as a risk mitigation measure.

"We have built reservoirs, then a pump irrigation system, then deep wells, then pump systems, and finally, land-use optimization, which means swamp land that usually yields one harvest is now yielding two or three. Then we proceed with the expansion of rice fields. This can all mitigate the risks,” he explained.

In the livestock industry, the Minister stated that the government continues to maintain stable egg prices through collaboration with stakeholders, from farmers to the National Nutrition Agency.

"We immediately called the head of BGN, conveying that if within a week the usual egg consumption, which is once per week, could become three times including chicken meat, the prices would start to rise, and we all agreed on that," he said.

Furthermore, he explained that the government is also continuing to accelerate the downstreaming program in the horticulture sector, including coffee, coconut, and sugarcane commodities. In addition, the government will continue to distribute various forms of assistance to regions to support the acceleration of agricultural sector development.